Woman’s death in childbirth prompts suspension of Montreal nurses

MONTREAL — Two Montreal nurses have been suspended — for two and four weeks, respectively — for negligence almost four years after a woman died in childbirth from a perfectly treatable condition.

Christine Sasseville died Aug. 14, 2008, at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital of a massive brain hemorrhage shortly after giving birth to her third child.

An autopsy revealed that her hemorrhage was caused by hypertension (high blood pressure).

The hospital accident report said Sasseville, 38 — who was a nurse herself — died because of medical error and that staff did not follow established protocol for her condition. Doctors underestimated the urgency of her illness, and nursing care that night was all but absent.

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In its decisions about the two nurses, the disciplinary council of the Quebec Order of Nurses rejected a prosecutor’s request that the two women be banned from their jobs for as long as two months, ruling that head nurse Marie-Claire Boivin be suspended without pay for four weeks and that delivery-room nurse Anne-Marie Couture be suspended for two weeks. Both women pleaded guilty to negligence, the council noted.

It was Boivin who delegated a nursing intern to watch over Sasseville and did not check on Sasseville personally all night.

Sasseville’s husband, Gondiel Ka, called suspensions “ridiculous” because they are too brief.

“It’s extremely sad and very strange that my wife died in a hospital when there are very clear guidelines about what to do” when a pregnant woman’s hypertension turns to pre-eclampsia, said Ka, a 54-year-old credit clerk.

“The council is supposed to protect the public, but they are only protecting their own.”

Ka is suing the hospital and the two obstetricians who treated his wife, and seeking nearly $4 million. He said he is particularly upset that one doctor billed the Quebec health insurance board for treating his wife even though, he alleges, that doctor only reviewed his wife’s file and never saw her.

Ka is representing himself as he pursues his case, in court and before the Quebec College of Physicians. His late wife was a nurse in a CLSC. “She would want me to go all the way.”

Lise Provost, a spokeswoman for the Order of Nurses, would not comment on the disciplinary council’s decisions. But she said the council acts independently from the order.

The council said the nurses worked under difficult conditions: understaffing, faulty equipment and a surfeit of patients. “The council knows nursing tasks are often a heavy burden, and particularly in the case before us,” the council noted, using identical language regarding both nurses’ actions.

“Nothing justifies this type of behaviour. It goes against the values of the profession, which are respected by the public.”

A harsh report by coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier highlighted serious gaps in the hospital’s care and questioned whether an immediate delivery by caesarean might have saved Sasseville’s life.